The Penguins' Eric Tangradi (25) fights the Rangers' Stu Bickel (41) during the first period last night. Photo: AP

Stu Bickel got in a fight, then he got stapled to the bench.

With the Rangers coming out of the gate flat-footed in the first period of Thursday night’s 4-1 loss to the Penguins at Madison Square Garden, Bickel decided he needed to change the momentum. So 8:56 in, he squared up Eric Tangradi, they tossed their helmets aside and punches flew.

“Bick comes up with a big fight for us,” coach John Tortorella said. “We get our game going and I thought we played really well in the second period.”

Overall, Bickel played 5:19, with 3:42 coming in the first period and 1:37 coming in the second. He never left the bench in the third.

With Anton Stralman getting a total of 11:59 — with a little more than three minutes in the third period — the back end of the bench was limited to a four-man rotation. Marc Staal, in his ninth game back from a concussion, played a season-high 26:02, and teamed most of the night with Michael Del Zotto. Del Zotto (25:47) played the right side, the first time he has done that all season.

“I feel pretty good tonight,” Staal said after the game. “I think getting a couple up on the board early has been a huge help for us. Just playing confident and playing good defense, it’s kind of an up-and-down that way in giving up the first one.”

The other defensive pair logging major minutes was Dan Girardi (22:57) and Ryan McDonagh (24:17).

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The Rangers’ anemic power play continued its struggles Thursday night, going 0-for-2. They are now 24th in the league at 14.1 percent.

“I look at it two ways — it’s not going that well, but we have to get it going, and the only way to get it going is getting out there and doing it,” Tortorella said before the game. “I also think if we do get it going, some of our offensive players — that are not dead-on offensive — it may help them, also. But when it’s horse—-, you may not want to do it, and you just grind away. Like you say, it’s a double-edged sword there.”

The biggest opportunity for the power play to step up came with about seven minutes left when the Penguins Matt Niskanen got called for hooking. The Rangers managed just one shot and remained down, 3-1. Evgeni Malkin’s empty-netter would finish the game off 4-1.

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In what started out as a chippy game, Brandon Prust got into an extended shoving match with Paul Martin near the end of the first period. At one point it looked like the two would square off, but it never happened.

“I had to tell Pruster not to fight people because I think he’s a better player than the people he wants to fight,” Tortorella said. “It tends to hurt us. That is part of his game — and there are times when he does that that it helps our team — but I also think he’s a pretty good player. So we’ll see where it goes.”

As the game’s final two minutes were winding down and the Rangers were down 4-1, Prust got a goalie interference call, then was given a 10-minute misconduct after send a couple choice words in the direction of the referee.

Defenseman Michael Sauer did not skate Thursday morning, but Tortortella said “all is good” as he recovers from a concussion sustained Dec. 5 against Toronto. Sauer worked out with coach Reg Grant in place of skating. There is still no definitive timetable for his return.

Two other injured defensemen, Jeff Woywitka (foot) and Steve Eminger (shoulder), both practiced and are close to returning, but the lineup stayed the same.